Feds: Retired Chicago cop worked for drug ring

November 22, 2010

A retired Chicago police officer was accused today of working for a violent drug ring by falsely testifying in a federal trial, providing sensitive information about investigations and even helping kidnap a victim for ransom.

Glenn Lewellen, a cop from 1986 to 2002, was among five members of the drug ring who kidnapped someone at gunpoint in the summer of 2003, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment.

Lewellen is also charged with lying on the stand in a federal criminal trial in 1999 and regularly providing information about federal investigations into members of the drug ring, which was headed by Saul Rodriguez of west suburban Countryside.

The person sent to prison from the trial was released in May after prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss the conviction, citing the false testimony.

The ring is also accused of committing two murders, but Lewellen is not charged in connection with them. He was arrested in Las Vegas Friday on charges of racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

The ring was broken up by federal agents last year, but the extent of the violence its members committed and its inside connections weere not detailed until today in the complaint.

In all, the ring is implicated in the murders of two men, the kidnapping of 13 people and three large-scale drug deals involving hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from 1999 to 2009.

The murders include the June 3, 2000 shooting death of Juan Luevano in Cicero, and the May 31, 2001 shooting death of Michael Garcia in Chicago. The kidnappings occurred between the summer of 2003 and October 2007, according to the indictment.

Rodriguez and five other alleged ring members were initially charged with drug trafficking in April 2009 after they were caught in a sting set up by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The indictment adds new charges against those six and includes Lewellen and three other alleged members of the drug ring.